


My Son and Stars

by AraHinam



Series: Sleepless Nights [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Dad Alec Lightwood, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, One Shot, Parents Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, lightwood-bane family, show canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 05:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14277453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraHinam/pseuds/AraHinam
Summary: Being a light sleeper was useful as a shadowhunter. You never knew when the alarm would sound and all hands needed to be on deck to avert a possible city-wide crisis. Especially as the head of the institute, Alec found that he needed to be ready at all times, day or night, for his people.When it came to being a parent, however, it was much less useful.





	My Son and Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Max is one, Rafael is three. Using show canon but also Max and Rafael's story lines from the books, just different ages.

Being a light sleeper was useful as a shadowhunter. You never knew when the alarm would sound and all hands needed to be on deck to avert a possible city-wide crisis. Especially as the head of the institute, Alec found that he needed to be ready at all times, day or night, for his people. 

When it came to being a parent, however, it was much less useful. 

Every time his sons so much as coughed in their sleep, Alec was wide awake without fail. It was better now that Max was in his own room, something he and Magnus had chosen to do after Alec hit his fifth day of little to no sleep. It killed him to do so, knowing Max was more comfortable falling asleep when he knew his dads were near, but Alec couldn’t break his ever vigilant habit and he _needed_ sleep. He still jumped awake every time Max cried over the baby monitor, but it was a significant improvement from before. 

Despite its pitfalls it did come in handy other times, particularly when it came to Rafael. Their oldest son had had a rough start in life, and the horrors he couldn’t understand often visited him in the form of horrendous nightmares. Magnus was always afraid Rafael would need them and they wouldn’t hear him or he would be too scared to walk to their room. Alec, however, was confident in his habits.

“Daddy.” 

Alec startled awake, instinctively reaching for the seraph blades he had hidden underneath the bed, before his heart rate slowed and he listened closely for what had woke him. 

“Daddy.” 

Alec was immediately up, recognizing the shaky sound of Rafael’s voice from down the hall. Magnus groaned at being dislodged from where he was snoozing against Alec’s chest and rolled over back to sleep. The shadowhunter slid his feet in the slippers by the bed and padded quietly but quickly out of their room and down the hall. 

Alec pushed the door open to see Rafael sitting up in his bed, the nightlight emphasizing the tears on his cheeks. His hair was sticking to his forehead and he was squeezing a stuffed bunny hard to his chest. 

“Hey buddy,” Alec murmured, “What’s wrong?” 

Rafael sniffed, “There’s monsters.” He stuttered.

Alec crouched down next to the bed, brushing some of the hair away from Rafael’s forehead, “Monsters? Where?”

Rafael pointed to the window on the opposite side of his room, “In the window.”

Alec looked over and noticed slight movement coming from the curtains. Despite the strong possibility of it being nothing, Alec was immediately on edge 

“Let me see what’s there.” He asked. 

“No!” The boy shook his head quickly, fresh tears forming in his eyes. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Alec soothed, “I’ll be right back.”

“No, daddy!” 

“Don’t worry Rafe, daddy’s got it.”

Alec got up to check despite Rafael’s urging. He knew Magnus had wards secured around the loft, that had been doubled- if not tripled- since they adopted the boys, but he was never to careful when it came to his family. Their lives were hectic and often dangerous, and even the most inane things deserved a second look. 

Upon further inspection of the window, where Rafael had an assortment of actions figures along the sill, Alec noticed that the window was still cracked open from earlier, causing the curtains to billow with the wind. He shoved it closed with a thump and turned back to the still frightened child. 

“Nothing here Rafe,” Alec said. He opened the curtains to show him, “See? Just wind.” 

Rafael hugged his rabbit tightly, peering at the window, “No monsters?” 

“No monsters, baby, just wind,” Alec assured. He returned to the side of Rafael’s bed, leaning down to his level. He gathered the child in his arms, rubbing a hand up and down his back soothingly. Rafael tangled his hands in Alec’s shirt, still on edge. Alec kissed his temple, trying to comfort him enough so he would go back to sleep. 

“Wanna read a story?” Alec asked. 

Rafael shook his head, clinging to his dad a bit harder like he was going to leave. 

“No?” Alec questioned. He stood up, Rafael secured in arms. The boys arms and legs came around him in a koala hold. He walked over to his bookshelf and picked up a book from the ‘favorites’ shelf, “Not even Pete?” 

Rafael looked over his shoulder, tempted by his favorite book, Pete the Cat and the Bedtime Blues. He shrugged, not wanting to give in and went back to burying his head in Alec’s neck. Despite his less than enthusiastic response, Alec knew he was interested enough to not outright resist him and walked back over to this bed. He situated them so Alec was sprawled as comfortably as possible in the small bed and Rafael was laying on his chest. The toddler jammed his thumb in his mouth, curling against his dad. 

“You want Peter?” Alec asked, grabbing the stuffed rabbit from where it fell beside the bed. 

Rafael nodded and cuddled the stuffed animal, more than eager for story time now that he knew Alec was going to stay with him. 

Magnus was definitely the better storyteller between the two of them, that was something Alec could admit. He did funny voices and acted out the scenes and, with the help of his magic, he could make the characters quite literally jump off the page. Even so, Alec was good enough for bedtime and sat back and read through the brightly covered book. 

He kept his voice just soft enough to soothe Rafael, but with sufficient inflection to make sure the boy was interested. Rafael liked reading enough that he wouldn’t get too antsy, and this was a regular occurrence for when he woke up in the middle of the night. They used to just bring him into their room so he could be calmed that way, but Alec was worried he would become too dependent on that method of comfort. So they took their toddler to the book store and had him pick out as many books as he wanted for bedtime. It worked most of the time, with only truly terrifying nightmares driving the child into their bed. 

He read through the book once and had Rafael pick another two until he started to doze off. Alec set the books aside when Rafael began to nod off, rocking them softly as he hummed a soft lullaby. Rafael didn’t fight it, knowing he was safe with Alec, and was asleep in moments. 

Alec shifted slightly, stretching his long form out on the much too tiny mattress . He tried moving Rafael off of him into the bed, but he whined in his sleep and fisted Alec’s shirt tightly. Sighing, he laid against Rafael’s pillows and tried not to think about the back pain he would inevitably have in the morning. He closed his eyes, focusing on Rafael’s deep, even breathing and eventually succumbed to slumber. 

\---

A hand running through his hair woke him the next morning. Alec cracked open his eyes to see Magnus standing above him, a sleepy Max in his arms. 

“You look comfortable.” Magnus said softly, a pitying smile on his face. 

Alec stretched, feeling the twinge in his neck and shoulder, “So comfortable.” 

He sat up slightly, moving Rafael to rest on his bed. The toddler was in deep enough sleep that he only twitched at the change in position. Standing up, Alec stretched again, the stiffness in his back becoming more pronounced. He groaned. 

“Come on.” Magnus said chuckling. He lead him out of the room, closing Rafael’s door softly before walking to the living room with Alec trailing behind him. Alec flopped face first on the couch while Magnus secured Max in his playpen. Magnus disappeared into the kitchen for a moment before returning with a sippy cup for Max. He gave it to the one year old, who happily yanked it out of his hands. 

Magnus sat next to Alec on the couch, moving the shadowhunter around so his head was resting on his lap. His hands moved to his back, rubbing at the cricks in his necks. 

“What time is it?” Alec moaned, Magnus fingers massaging a sore spot in his neck. 

“Almost seven.” 

Alec groaned, “Too early.” 

Magnus laughed, “Tell that to your son.” 

Alec turned so he was facing Max, “It’s too early Max.” 

Max shoved a foam block in his mouth in response, waving when he noticed Alec was looking at him. It was more of a pointed open and closing of his tiny hand, but Alec waved back regardless. 

The parents took advantage of the morning quietness, Alec letting Magnus rub out the stiffness in his muscles while Max played with his toys. A household with two boys under five was rarely this quiet and they were going to savor it for as long as possible. Max was just learning how to entertain himself for a longer period of time, his newest obsession being dress up much to Magnus’ pleasure. Alec often came home to find his kids in all sorts of outlandish costumes, his favorite being when all three of them dressed as pirates. 

Soon enough, the pitter pattering of feet came from the hall. Rafael soon came into view, thumb in his mouth and rabbit in his arms. His hair was sleep tousled and his shirt was oddly on backwards even though Alec could have swore it was on just fine when he saw him this morning. 

“Good morning Rafe.” Magnus said. 

Rafael responded in kind and stood in front of the couch, his sleepy brain not comprehending where to sit down since Alec was taking up the whole length. Magnus solved it by picking up the three year old and setting him on top of Alec’s back, the shadowhunter grunting at the added weight. 

WIth the whole family together, Alec felt a comforting peace seep into him. Max was happily babbling to himself, tossing toys around the gated pen. Rafael was sitting peacefully on his back, still waking up. He relished in the attention his husband was lavishing on his back, curling an arm around his waist lovingly. The last thought Alec had as he unknowingly drifted back to sleep was that there was no place he’d rather be than right here, surrounded by his family.


End file.
